What role should the press have in NASCAR?

buckaroo

buckaroo

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Now that the season is over, in most parts of the country, the press will surely be much less. Fortunately for us, we can get all the info we want or need via the internet. One of the things that was very clear this season, as well as last is that the press played a large role in just about everything that concerns NASCAR Winston Cup. It began last year with the death of Dale Earnhardt (what, why and who was to blame and how could it have been prevented) and continued this year to what's been happening with Tony Stewart. As in the political areana, reporters are now using more and more opinion and editorial stuff instead of the actual news. When something of a controversial nature comes up, it always seems to be the press who decide what is right and what is wrong, instead of just going after the answers. I'm sure it won't be long before some hot shot reporter who wants to make a name for himself will try to crucify Tony Stewart. While his conduct will of course always be news, editorializing about it isn't news. It was clear to me that the guys on the track, competing with Tony have all the respect in the world for him, but for some of those in the booth, and in the garage area, they don't agree. Just as will everything else, when the press grabs hold of something, they won't let go until the outcome is to their liking.

Hmmmm, I wonder how my reporter friends are thinking of me now. Sorry guys, I tells em as I sees em.
 
i think they should go on as they see fit, but if they are going to pry and put on the pressure, come what may. i am sure that tony is not the only guy to ever push a reporter away or throw a camara. look at jeff
 
Originally posted by judas1
i think they should go on as they see fit, but if they are going to pry and put on the pressure, come what may. i am sure that tony is not the only guy to ever push a reporter away or throw a camara. look at jeff
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That's my point. They only go where THEY want to go, not where the news is.
 
It's called Tabliod Journalism..........and since people seem to enjoy that type of journalism, the mainstream journalists are doing it to compete. We, as fans, are more to blame than anything.:) If we would stop reading that crap and then searching for more crap to pile on the orginal heap it would go away.........but that is not going to happen until NASCAR stops being the current craze for the fad followers. NASCAR wanted to expand their fan base......they did and now we have to wait out the fad followers until the next "thing to be part of" comes along. I say 3 to 5 years and NASCAR racing will be a little more like it used to be. Either that or it will be on it's way out.......WWE of racing.:(
 
The press dramatizes all they can...Blow everything out of proportion like the tabloids do. Ban them all from the garage area, except those with special permission. Find a space for interviews only where drivers and/or crew or spokesperson will answer those often stupid questions.
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
We, as fans, are more to blame than anything.:)   If we would stop reading that crap and then searching for more crap to pile on the orginal heap it would go away.........
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Here here.
 
Originally posted by kat2220
The press dramatizes all they can...Blow everything out of proportion like the tabloids do. Ban them all from the garage area, except those with special permission. Find a space for interviews only where drivers and/or crew or spokesperson will answer those often stupid questions.
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Thank You!!
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
If we would stop reading that crap and then searching for more crap to pile on the orginal heap it would go away.........but that is not going to happen until NASCAR stops being the current craze for the fad followers.
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A dear friend of mine is one of those reporters and he has told me that if I didn't like what was going on in the sport, why did I continue to watch and participate in it all. Yes, we are all responsible for what we get.
 
Originally posted by kat2220
The press dramatizes all they can...Blow everything out of proportion like the tabloids do. Ban them all from the garage area, except those with special permission. Find a space for interviews only where drivers and/or crew or spokesperson will answer those often stupid questions.
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Absolutely the press dramatizes all they can but don't blame it all on the press. We the fans are the ones who create the interest and require the drama so often associated with sleezy journalism and the press is fulfilling the need. Take the situation this past Friday with Stewart when he ran into the photographer. Who did you hear it from first?? Bill Weber, who offered what information he had about the incident at the time. This "news" item was given priority as if it were a report of an enemy attack on the United States. Why?? WE MADE IT THAT WAY!!!!!!!!

So if you hadn't heard about the deal with Tony, will you live ten minutes longer or die ten minutes earlier?? Does it really matter?? The answer is "yes", it does. It matters to the ABGers, ATS's and every other driver NASCAR fans love to hate, who stop, look and listen to everything that is insulting or negative to any of them.

The news we crave is provided by the same sources everyone is condemning. Do away with it and you have stiffled one of the greatest freedoms we enjoy, even if through sanctions imposed by limiting access to the sources of this news. Only permit special members of the press in secure areas?? No way. You either close it off to all or open it up to those with valid credentials. Granting access to a chosen few under special conditions gives NASCAR the tool of censorship. Something they already enjoy up to a point.
 
All the press needs to do is tell what car is on the pole and speed, what car whens the race and speed, what changes or improvements are being made to cars, oh the time the race starts and what channel the race is on............. The love BS they can leave out, racin isn't days of our life.
 
It's a double edged sword. We as fans cannot clamor for them to back off when we, with the same voice, demand more information. If you're going to feed the beast, someone has to go get the food. Conversely, if you put 10 doctors in a hospital, and if you assume that 10% of all doctors are quacks, then you get 1 bad doctor. If you put 100 doctors in there, you get 10 bad ones. The more reporters there are scrambling around, the better chance of a crackpot getting in.

No easy answer to this. Ultimately, the decision rests on each fan as to what they read/watch/listen to, and what they don't. Survival of the fittest; if no one reads a certain reporter's reports, he loses his job and is no longer in the picture.
 
Whizzer, TWF to mention a couple are more on track with my viewpoint.

Want "hard news"? Just the facts? There is a wealth of sources for those items. You may tailor your reading and viewing habits to those alone if you so chose.

Want human interest? Other peoples opionions on events and developments within the sport? There is also a wealth of those as well.

Your individual tastes and preferences should dictate what you explore and once explored, what items you choose to embrace and those which you reject. If you are unable to do so this it is not the medias fault.

Are those reporting sites which you as an individual classify as "tabloid". "sensationalist", or in some manner "biased" required to conform to your way of thinking. Absolutely not. There is a good chance that some other individual may consider those same sources more on target and insightful than those you have chosen to be your favorites.

No one person or group I have ever has the opportunity to encounter has cornered the market on being able to dictate to me that which I should or should not be allowed to read, hear about, agree with or disagree with. It would insult my intelligence and worth as an individual.

You choose that which you wish to know and how you wish to know it. You simply cannot choose for any else.
 
All I want is stats. Everything else is someone's opinion, and I already have my own.
 
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